


Tomorrow

by OrionRedde, Shyrstyne



Series: Cometverse [20]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Werecreatures, edging into kh3 spoiler territory be warned, just wait until he finds out about his mom and dilan, sora does not like the adults in his life dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 01:52:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18436586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrionRedde/pseuds/OrionRedde, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shyrstyne/pseuds/Shyrstyne
Summary: Tomorrow the final battle commences, but tonight some loose ends need to be tied.





	1. Sora

**Author's Note:**

> this is the part where we skim oh-so-lightly over kh3. frankly we have zero interest in copy-pasting game script, so we're just gonna cover the stuff that we're adding or changing and it's probably safe to assume everything else went as normal.
> 
> IT SHOULD BE NOTED: we are ignoring a few pretty crucial kh3 plotlines, most notably the foreteller stuff, the girl in the cage, and Literally Everything Nomura Fucked Up With Kairi. The first two are because we just don't know where those threads are going and would rather not try and make it work in our canon, and the third is because Kairi Deserved Better.
> 
> Obviously.

Kairi sends Sora all kinds of things with their new phones.

The time difference between the realm she and Lea are training in and the rest of the universe means sometimes he’ll get dozens of texts and messages all at once, when for her they would be spaced hours apart. He doesn’t mind though, he likes getting updates from her as she progresses through her training, but it does mean he doesn’t always have time to read them all as he tries his hardest to find the Power of Waking.

But it makes him smile, as they coast between worlds on the gummi ship, or as he settles down for the night and tries and fails to get some sleep. Little things about her day, pictures and videos.

Sometimes he’ll get something from Riku, but not often. Apparently reception in the realm of darkness is borderline nonexistent. Sometimes he’ll get a single text that’s obviously supposed to be part of a chain of them, and the lack of context makes him laugh even as it makes him sad, and a touch lonely.

It’s late one night, after he’s spent a couple hours tossing and turning before giving up and picking up his phone, that he gets another string of texts from Kairi.

One of them is a video.

The image quality shows almost nothing, but he thinks he can see Kairi’s leg and boot. What’s important is what he hears.

It’s Lea. And Comet.

Flirting.

Kairi is trying hard to suppress her giggles, and the camera wobbles as she shakes, but Sora doesn’t know how to feel.

Well he does, but he doesn’t like it. He shuts the phone off and sets it aside a little roughly without bothering to reply for once, turning over and dragging the covers over his head, listening to Donald and Goofy snore across the room.

He knows Lea has turned a new leaf, saved him from Xehanort and working his hardest to learn to wield his new keyblade.

But that’s Sora’s _untie_ he’s flirting with.

They’d helped him, took him into their den and sheltered him when he’d needed a place to call home.

They were just talking, he reassures himself. And it’s not any of his business anyway. Comet could do whatever they wanted. Even if that was Lea.

He turns over again and tries once more to sleep.

His journey continues, and he feels more and more hopeless. How does he find the power of waking? What is he doing? What is he doing wrong?

Kairi’s constant texts become a lifeline of sorts, except the ones about Lea. He gets a few more snippets of them flirting, and flirting boldly enough even he can tell. He hates it. He knows he shouldn’t though, so he says nothing, pushes the feeling down.

-LEA ASKED COMET OUT THEY SAID YES- the text shouts at him.

He stuffs his phone in his pocket and pretends he didn’t see it. He doesn’t have time, he has to make sure Boo makes it through the facility okay while everything is on the fritz. The fact that he doesn’t get back to it later.. Well he just forgot, right?

It doesn’t seem to deter Kairi though, and he gets more little updates and snippets about them and their dates. He finds himself thinking something less than kind at one point and shakes his head, as if to try and dislodge it. He can’t think that way, happy faces only on this ship!

Much, much later when he finally sees Kairi and Riku again he _does_ forget the lingering bitter fear, lost in the relief and warmth he feels at being with them again. It’s a balm against the restless gloom that’s been weighing on his heart. He hugs them both tightly and it takes every atom of strength in him to make himself let go.

He see’s Lea too, and tries not to scowl too hard at him. He doesn’t think he succeeded though, when Lea cocks his head and gives him a confused shrug. They have a group meeting, and with all the guardians united, the date is set in stone.

Sora feels the clock tick. For a long moment, he doesn’t know where to start.

“Sora.” It’s Riku, and Kairi stands beside him. They’re both smiling.

“We’ll meet you at the islands, okay?” Kairi says.

“Wait, you guys are leaving?” He asks, confused.

“We all have people we want to see.” Riku says, smile soft. “So do you, I bet. Go see them, when we’re done, we’ll meet at the islands, like Kairi said.”

Sora doesn’t want to let either of them out of his sight, but he knows they’re right. He pulls them both into a tight hug once more, willing himself not to cry. They’ll be okay. He’ll see them again soon.

Riku leaves, followed by king Mickey, and Kairi leaves followed by Lea. Sora catches Lea’s eyes once more just before he gets out the door, and this time he makes a deliberate ‘I’m watching you’ gesture.

Lea mouths ‘what did I do?’ as he points to himself. Sora just pouts and looks away. Lea looks to the door and back to Sora, as if deliberating, before sighing in annoyance and walking over to where Sora’s still standing.

“Seriously, I know we don’t have the cleanest history, but I thought we were past this part. What did I do?”

“Like you don’t know.” He can’t help being just a little bit petty.

“I’m sure I do but you’re gonna have to narrow it down for me.”

“Comet! You and Comet!” He bursts out. He’s not sure why he’s so angry.

“Yeah, what about them.” Lea narrows his eyes dangerously.

Sora purses his lips.

“You better make them happy. If you hurt them I hurt you.” He says finally. Lea snorts, muttering something that sounds like ‘stars dammit Kairi’ under his breath.

“Sora I wouldn’t be here if I had any intention of hurting them.”

“I know that.” He insists. “Just. Making sure you knew.”

“Trust me. I know. If I ever end up hurting them you’ll probably have to get in line.”

Lea walks away, leaving Sora alone in the entryway of the tower to consider where he should go. There are so many people he wants to see, but only so many he has time for.

He goes to Radiant Garden to see his mother first.

He doesn’t tell her where he’s going. She makes him lunch and tells him about her day, how she’s getting to know some of the residents around town and even the strange scientists up in the castle. How she’s had to tear apart a couple fistfights in street last week. He lets the words wash over him, nostalgia brimming in his chest and feeling small again, sitting at the table watching the waves roll over the beach as his parents laugh and talk.

Kaze’s hand comes to rest on his head, and he looks up into her face. Her smile is sad.

“Come home safe, okay?”

“How did you-“

“It’s this look you get. I can’t stop you, I know you have big things to do… but come home safe. That’s all I ask.”

She pulls him in for a hug, which he returns gratefully. There’s tears in her eyes when she pulls back, and before he knows it he’s shifted, wanting to take in her scent and identity one last time, pulling her back into a tight, rib crushing hug as he buries his face into her collar. He’s sure he’s left wet spots from his eyes, but she doesn’t comment, just holds him gently and hums an old lullaby from his childhood. It sends him further into tears, not even entirely sure what he’s crying for now, but grateful for the release.

Eventually he pulls back, fully this time, and she lets him go.

He’s grateful when she doesn’t insist he verbalise the promise, even though he knows she’s well aware of it’s absence. She waves him away, towards his ship and into the unknown once more. He was too much like her after all, a forced promise loses its magic, and she knows he’ll try his best anyway.

Sora has one more person to see. He lands in Twilight Town, wandering the mid afternoon streets slowly. Comet’s prepping the bar to open when he walks in, and smiles as he pulls them in for a hug.

He doesn’t say anything at first. He wonders what will happen. To Comet, to his mother, to all the people he misses and loves if he doesn’t come back. If he _fails_ again.

“What’s wrong?” Comet asks, running a hand through his hair.

“It’s tomorrow. We’re going to fight Xehanort, and find a way to get everyone back.”

Comet sighs.

“I believe in you kiddo…. but even if you can’t, I know you’ll have tried your best. Don’t set yourself up to do the impossible.”

“We can do it! We just have to find a way!” He insists, pulling back with a determined expression. Comet ruffles his hair, which he protests with a grin.

“I guess if anyone can it’d be you.” They admit. “You gonna stay for dinner, or do you need to go?”

He’s still full from the lunch Kaze had made, but he nods anyways.

“Dinner sounds good.”

He helps with putting together a small dinner for the both, cutting meat and vegetables as Comet arranges them into fancy sandwiches. Comet would usually insist on eating at the table, but instead settles on the couch, patting the spot to their left for him to sit. They want him close, need that small bit of assurance before he leaves once more.

“Has Lea come by?” He asks, words coming unbidden from his mouth. Comet shakes their head.

“No, I haven’t seen anyone today. I’d assumed he was still training, actually, but if you’re all prepping for a showdown tomorrow then I guess not.”

Sora scowls. How could he just forget like that?

Comet gives him a glance.

“You look like you swallowed a bee.”

“What no I don’t.”

“Yeah you do. Like it’s buzzing around your cheeks but you’re being too stubborn to let it out.”

“I don’t like that you’re dating Lea.” He blurts out, and then realising what he’s said, buries himself back into eating his sandwich so he doesn’t have to see Comet’s reaction. He glances up anyways, and catches their stern stare.

“Why?”

“He’s not good enough.”

“He’s good enough for me. Anything else?”

“.... No.” He finally admits. “He used to be a bad guy but he’s worked really hard at becoming a guardian and doing better and I _know_ that but _augh_!” He gives up on the sandwich, dropping it onto the plate. “I just. Don’t like it.”

“You better get used to it cub.” Comet says flatly. “It kinda sounds like you just don’t like the thought of the adults in your life dating and that’s not gonna fly.”

“I just.. I want you to be happy. What if he hurts you?”

“Sora.” Comet says, pulling his chin up to face them. “It’s the same with every relationship, romantic, platonic, familial. We’re all just doing our best. If you have actual concerns then yes, I absolutely want you to bring them to me, but you also need to understand that I am an adult and I can make my own decisions, okay?”

“I know.” He says, and Comet sighs at the mournful look he gives them, pulling him into a hug.

“Honestly cub, now isn’t the time to be worried about this anyways, we can deal with all that next week, when you’re all safe and home again.”

He has to admit they’re right, snuggling into their shoulder and soaking in their warmth before finally deciding he had better go. He has one more stop to make after all.

Comet wishes him luck, and then he’s on his way once more.

The sun has only just begun to dip on Destiny Islands, contrary to the already mid-twilight of Twilight Town, and he expects to be the last person to arrive but to his surprise there’s only Kairi waiting on the bent paopu tree.

She greets him with a smile, and they wait.

Eventually he sees Riku walk onto the beach, but he sits on the sand, as if waiting himself.

Sora’s not sure what to make of it, but then Kairi speaks, and he turns his attention to her.

Tomorrow will be the answer to so many things.

He hopes they’re ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and then Riku joins them on the tree after his chat with Repliku. Obviously.


	2. Lea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lea fumes after his visit with Saix. It's one part anger.. and two parts fear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is also the part where lea's add starts to show. low-key headcanon that a lot of his symptoms disapeared or were suppressed while nobodied, and now that he's human again... well that's just one more thing he has to deal with.
> 
> His self-worth is also in the _tank_ right now. he's under a lot of stress. they all are really.

Lea stumbles down the clocktower stairs, half an ice cream still in hand, emotions scattered and broiling beneath the surface. He doesn’t know if he’s angry, or hopeless, or determined, or…

It’s so many things, and he can hardly sort them all. He takes an angry bite of the ice cream, and it melts almost before he can get it in his mouth. He’s sizzling, almost literally, and he makes an effort of try and calm himself. He manages enough he doesn’t risk leaving charred boot prints in his wake, but the rest of his ice cream is toast, a sticky mess dribbling down his fingers. He chucks the sticks in a nearby can and stalks off.

Tomorrow they fight. Tomorrow everything is decided.

Tomorrow he finds out if he really can save all his friends… or if he has to give them up as lost forever.

Angry tears well in his eyes. He knows they’re born of fear and shakes them away.

He goes to Comet’s bar.

The place is closed, though it’s not that late. He belatedly recalls that he’d meant to tell them that the battle had been set and had forgotten to. He hadn’t meant to forget, but with everything weighing on his mind it had slipped away. Guilt worms into chest and he wonders who  _ did _ tell them. There’s the off chance one of the kids are in there with them, and he’s off-balance enough that this thought almost makes him reconsider going in, but he shoves past it. He’s allowed to see his datemate. He is  _ especially _ allowed to see his datemate on the eve of a massive battle he might not come back from.

Stars, what if he didn’t? If he just left them like that? He never should have agreed to this, never should have even become their friend. Being friends with him seemed to always lead to such terrible things anyway. If he died tomorrow it would be just one more person he’s hurt in a long list really.

He lingers in the doorway.

He wants to run.

He steps through instead.

Comet is upstairs, laying back on the couch reading a book, and smiles when he comes up the steps. It makes his heart hurt, how happy they are to see him. The hurt is followed by grim determination. Reminds him why he  _ has _ to make it through tomorrow. Because he wants to see them again, to see Roxas, to see Is-

His friends.

Their smile slips when they catch his expression, and they lift their arms in invitation.

“Hey, c’mere.” They say softly. “You look like you need a hug.”

He strides forward and does just that, holding them tightly though it’s an awkward bend with them still on the couch and him standing. He doesn’t let go for several long moments, just breathing them in, letting them rub small circles into his back. Some of his tension releases and he lets go with a sigh. They pat the couch next to them and he flops down, pauses, and then lays down more so his head is resting on their thigh. They move slightly so he rests more comfortably in their lap and runs a hand through his hair.

“Worried about tomorrow?” They ask, and he looks up into their face, noting their own worry lines creasing their brow. He sighs.

“Who told you?”

“Sora. He was here this afternoon, just a quick stop before he headed for the islands.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“... I don’t know.”

“It’ll be okay. You’re all going to kick ass and take names.”

“And if we don’t?”

“You will.” They say with such conviction he almost believes it. He wonders if it’s as much an affectation as his own bravado earlier was.

“...There’s so much riding on what happens tomorrow. People I want to see.”

“Roxas.”

“Yeah.”

“He deserves to come home. He’s a good kid.”

“He is. He does.”

"Well, he's got a place here waiting for him, if he wants." Comet says. Lea knows. He's been helping them turn the guest bedroom into something Roxas can make his own. It has a few things Lea thinks he might like already in it, but it's otherwise a blank slate. Comet hums, and there’s quiet for a bit. Lea closes his eyes, just takes the moment to feel them running their fingers through his hair, feel the scratch of their nails along his scalp. It’s calming, but the emotions from before still lay just beneath the surface.

“It’s not just Roxas, is it?” Comet catches on a tangle and works through it without tugging on it. His eyes blink open but he’s not really looking at anything. He doesn’t even know how to explain it to them.

“No.” Is what he says instead.

“Do you want to talk about it? Start from the beginning if you have to, no rush.” They say patiently, and somehow he feels shame rise in his gut. He doesn’t even know where the beginning is anymore. The silence stretches as he tries to sort his thoughts, and as promised Comet doesn’t push. Finally, he settles on

“I have a friend on the other side.”

“The one you mentioned before?” He’s surprised they remembered that, an offhand comment made nearly half a year ago. He nods.

“Yeah, him. Isa. Saïx. Whatever. We…. Shit, we fell apart so badly, Comet. We worked for so much for so long and then- then he accuses me of having forgotten why we’d done the whole charade in the first place! Me! Mister ‘got it memorised’ himself!” His anger bubbles and he throws out an arm to accentuate the point. But then he abruptly deflates. 

“For a second, I saw the old him in there, the one I used to run around with as a kid, the one I got hooked into an evil nobody cult for. And I… have to wonder if he’s right. If I  _ did  _ give up and left him behind. We weren’t getting anywhere, and we barely even spoke anymore, and that’s just as much on me as him.”

“It happens, even when there isn’t cults and nobody’s involved. You and him.. It’s hardly simple.” Comet says, something thick in their voice.

“It really wasn’t.” Lea admits. “I couldn’t keep up, I even told him that, between that and everything else.. Well when Roxas came along I may have been a nobody and supposedly couldn’t feel anything.. But fuck, it had been so  _ long _ since anyone had wanted me in the room and it was.. Well it felt  _ good _ . He needed me too, at first, Roxas. No memories and barely an understand of anything really, the kid needed some help. Before I knew it we were friends.”

Comet continues to play with his hair, and he scowls.

“Saix got.. Nasty, after that. I should have seen it coming but I didn’t. I felt like whatever we had left had evaporated entirely, so I decided not to care. Just like I’d thought he had.”

“I don’t believe that.” Comet interrupts, and maybe they meant it as a joke, but he crosses his arms over his face so they can’t see his eyes.

“......You’re right. I didn’t. I couldn’t stop myself from caring if I tried. And believe me, I have. But I really did think he was done with me, and. Stars, Comet, I might have been  _ wrong _ .” He will not cry. He will not cry. His voice wavers and his chest is tight, but he won’t allow the tears to fall, no matter how he’s already covered his face with his arms.

The one’s dripping into his hair don’t count.

“The way he talked, all these old reminders, saying ‘back when we were still friends’.. I want to believe he’s planning something because he’s  _ always _ planning something, but..” He doesn’t want to think about it. 

“It sounds like he was telling you goodbye.” Comet finishes, and Lea sits bolt upright.

“No!  _ No! _ I left him behind, we left each other behind, but I won’t let that happen again. I  _ won’t _ .” He turns to them, gesturing sharply. “I am _ done letting my friends disappear _ .”

They grin sharply at him.

“Then I guess you’d better go kick some ass tomorrow and drag them all home, huh?”

He sucks in a breath, grabbing their hand with one of his own, wiping at his cheeks with the other.

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i won't lie, i think this is one of the weaker chapters/fics i've written in this series. i was having an off day when i wrote it and i've never quite figured out how to fix it. oh well. next one is better, promise


	3. Saix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saix returns from his.. excursion.

Saïx warps back into the badlands. He wonders if Lea had caught any of his hints. For all he was surprisingly sharp and attentive emotionally he’d never been particularly.. Studious. He puts the third ice cream stick in his pocket, the one he’d stolen.

Stolen ice creams, stolen bodies, stolen friendships. He wonders if Isa would have had these problems with stealing too, if he’d never become Saïx. 

“Well?” The gravel in the voice makes him want to strike him down, tear him apart, spread the pieces of him across the barren ground.

“They plan to gather tomorrow.” He says instead.

“Then the fates have been set.” Gold eyes grin maliciously. Saïx holds his composure, hears the half-empty replica fall in line behind him. “I will leave you to prepare. I have some plans of my own to set in place.”

The old man disappears in a portal of dark wisps. Saïx allows himself only the pleasure of a slight downturn in his lips. He can’t risk himself now. The date has been set, for better or worse, his plans will see their end soon.

He looks down at the pup-

At what will be  ~~_ someone a person lea’s friend _ ~~ soon, he hopes.

“Are  _ you _ prepared?” He asks them. They look up, he thinks, just slightly.

“Prepared?” The voice that answers is soft.

“To face the keyblade wielders of light.” He’s done his best, but according to his last contact with Even, Roxas is still incomplete. He’s not sure if Sora will be able to pull the pieces of  this heart together on his own, as he’d been counting on what fuzzy evidence he’s been able to gather on Roxas’ bond with both  ~~_ this one _ ~~ and Lea, but hopefully Sora’s connections to all of them will prove enough on their own.

He can’t leave. He can’t risk his plans and the people he’s already wronged so much.

The  ~~_ not a puppet her name is _ ~~ doesn’t answer him.

“Tomorrow will be fraught.” He murmurs. In so many different ways.

He’s going to die. The best case scenario tomorrow is that he dies. He doesn’t want to.

But either he lives, or Lea does. There is no both.

He knows which one he will choose. He’s failed him so badly in the past and he will never allow it to happen again. Never again will he let his best and oldest friend down so horribly, children torn apart by the results of his anger and jealousy. He doesn’t deserve their forgiveness, and there is every possibility none of them will know the lengths he’s gone to for atonement.

He’s at peace with that. If anything he almost prefers it. Perhaps there will be less weight on Lea’s heart if he fades away once more as an enemy, rather than giving him the hope of repairing their broken friendship only to tear it away again.

He has the last pieces to set in motion still, he thinks as he glances across the  ~~_ no i boygirlbothneither forget-me-not _ ~~ . The winds cross the badlands with wispy moans that sound so very lonely. Or perhaps he is merely feeling poetic.

“I have dispensed many missions over the years, for many reasons. I cannot count how many I regret.” He says quietly. He wonders if they remember any of them. They’ve made no indication they hate him though, so probably not.

The  _~~little one cub flowe~~_ r does not move, just listens to him muse to himself. What a sad sight he is, essentially talking to himself in a deserted badland with the half-completed husk of an enemies friend.

A friend of a friend?

Would that he could count himself so lucky.

He wonders if the sudden burst of sentimentality is what makes him kneel before the  _~~ child lost one broken glass ~~ _ or if he hopes the act will somehow leave more of an impression.

“Your mission tomorrow is to stay alive. No matter what happens.”

The face in the shadows tilts, almost curiously.

“Is that all?”

“We need Lea alive as well.” The words leave Saïx before he can stop them, the first admission of his personal mission he’d made since rejoining the organization. “You and Lea, both of you  _ must _ live.”

They pause to absorb his words, before nodding.

“And you?” They ask. He suppresses a surprised laugh.

“Irrelevant.”

Their lips purse, like they’re thinking hard about something, but he stands and beckons them forward as he starts to walk away.

“Come, we have more to do before our fates are set in stone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have a lot of feelings about isa. i've also discovered i really enjoy writing from his pov


End file.
